Lately I’ve had the weirdest craving. I really want a can of pork ‘n’ beans. Ya, weird right? Sometimes I crave NYC pizza (‘cuz no other pizza comes close), sometimes I crave my grandmother’s homemade biscuits and gravy (yup, made from scratch). Lately though, it’s just plain old canned pork ‘n’ beans.
I suppose it’s just a symptom of my having been outside the US for such a long amount of time. A couple of other expat bloggers I’m familiar with have also been expressing similar sentiments recently. Sometimes, no matter where you are, and no matter how good the food is, you just want to eat something that reminds you of home.
Luckily, Singapore is fairly well modernized and most grocery chains like Cold Storage, Fairprice, and especially Giants carry a fair amount of imported products. They do come with a higher price tag, but occasionally I feel the need to indulge myself and get that bottle of Aunt Jemima’s pancake syrup, that box of Bisquick buttermilk pancakes, that bottle of Season All, or a can of Campbell’s Chunky Soup.
Imagine my surprise though, when I found this:
I haven’t seen this for sale in a grocery store in a long time. I haven’t exactly looked for it actively, but the last time I made it was 8 years ago and I remember it being very good! This Hurst’s HamBeens Brand “15 Bean Soup” comes with 1 pound of beans and a seasoning packet. You’re encouraged to add pork or smoked sausage to it, and the last time I made it I tossed in some jalapeños which really added to the flavor. When it’s ready to eat, it’s a very thick soup that can be eaten by itself and is very filling. Though, after living in Asia for so long, I have this weird craving to eat it over rice.
Sometimes, small things like that make all the difference.
Bradley Farless 
Ya. That's true. I'm not sure where they were going with that. It does have a proud sound to it, but there really aren't any lions around here.
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oh, Singapore or Singapura supposedly means, “Lion-city.” Only tigers are around that neck of the woods.
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@Rowena: Well, that's a shame. I'll just make it how I remember and it should come out good… I hope!You weren't labeling your posts???? Oh, that's not good! Imagine how much easier your site would be to navigate for specific stuff if you had a label widget in your sidebar somewhere, or even if a person could search for certain labels. I had the opposite problem. I put too many labels and then had to go back and clean them up.@MKL: Poor wife? She'll be eating it too, so she'll be taking part in the fun!
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Portueguese Bean Soup eh? With these beans? Have you done a recipe on those in your blog? I may pull out my dusty cooking hat and give it a shot.
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Beans make you gassy. All I can think is: poor wife of yours 😛
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I don't have one using this mixed bag, and you know, I just spent 20 minutes trying to update my gelato posts with labels and I'm just gonna forget the whole thing. I know I should have done that labeling thing as soon as the option became availabe, but at the time it didn't seem necessary. Right.
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Those bag o' dried beans are a classic! Used them all the time to make portuguese bean soup, another classic island dish back home.
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I'm not sure I follow you, about “Singapore” being a misnomer. How so? Opening a restaurant could be fun, but if I were going to do that, I think I'd do it in the Philippines.
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perhaps, you'll open your own restaurant in Singapore. Oh, write something about “Singapore” being a misnomer, or maybe it isn't after all.
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